[Mrs. Robinson]

Originally Posted by Mrs. Robinson

The "real" problem begins and ends with The Villages real estate company.
They refuse to cooperate with outside Realtors and that is why only Villages agents can sell new houses.
Consequently, all (outside) Realtors can only list and sell the resales of other outside (MLS) Realtors.
Also, please understand that all Villages agents are only agents and not Realtors.
They also will not take 90-day listings.

Now -- get this -- Villages agents can sell the resale listings of outside brokers, but they don't and won't!

So what does that tell you?
It should tell you that The Villages is doing a disservice to all residents who want to sell their property.
If the Villages doesn't list it, they won't show it or sell it.
That is, if an outside broker/Realtor lists it, they won't show it.

It's very sad and unethical that the Villages employs this practice. It's the homeowner who pays the price and suffers by not getting the full service they deserve through no fault of all the outside MLS brokers/Realtors.

Yes, I do feel that this is a very unethical practice of the developer.

Originally Posted by graciegirl

It isn't unethical AT ALL. The Villages inc. are builders and they can sell their own homes without sharing any of the profits with any outside real estate agencies and why wouldn't they? They are in business to make money. Who would just give away money? There is not a thing underhanded about it at all. Outside realtors just don't get to profit from the Morse family and they don't like it. I say that The Villages name itself has clout. This is the fastest growing community in the U.S. That says it all. This is a very desirable place to live and houses don't require much work to sell.

Yes, no matter how you cut it, it most certainly is unethical!

Unethical Defined: Not conforming to accepted standards of conduct; not conforming to a high moral standard.

When a homeowner lists their property with an agent, they deserve full service from their community of agents.
The Villages prevents this from happening because of their "rules."

So tell me . . . why don't they sell Realtors' listings; they legally can, you know, and they would still earn a commission.

It has nothing to do with clout, or being the fastest growing community anywhere.
The Villages doesn't cooperate with anyone because of greed. Yes -- you read it here: (greed = $$$) and I did not say "underhanded;" you did!

I am not unrealistic. My opinion that all agents should cooperate with one another is the way it should be.
This kind of cooperation is giving clients the service they deserve.
Not cooperating The Villages' way is not ethical and not fair in giving sellers everything they are paying for.